Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

of—that an agent of Friar’s had been taking back east aboard a 747. The
     man had accidentally detonated them. Sam had foreseen this and reached the plane in
     time, but he’d had to hold a shield around the blast to keep it from driving everyone
     aboard insane, including the pilot.Had he faltered for even a second, the plane would have crashed.
    In other words, Sam was a hero and Lily had no excuse for holding a grudge. Four hundred
     lives had hung in the balance, and she had been a distraction he could not afford.
     In her head, Lily knew there was nothing to forgive. He’d done the right thing. All
     of which left her confused and not liking herself much. She didn’t know if she was
     angry or hurt or just pouting, but she couldn’t seem to let it go. She couldn’t forget
     that slammed door.
    Otherwise, things were pretty good. The day after tomorrow, on the second day of the
     new year, she and Rule had an appointment. With a real estate agent. They’d be looking
     for a property with a fair amount of land, something not too far from the city, but
     also not too far from Clanhome. Toby had been shuffled around enough. They wanted
     him to be able to continue his schooling at Clanhome.
    But Rule couldn’t live there anymore. Not now that he was fully Leidolf Rho. They
     would find a property with land enough for wolves to run and either a really large
     house or two houses. They’d still need plenty of security, and besides, Rule wanted
     to bring more Leidolf out here. Time, he said, he started training more of them away
     from certain habits their old Rho had instilled.
    The whole thing made Lily nervous. Rule had considered paying cash, but decided it
     would leave him with too little cushion. This purchase was on him, mostly. Lily sure
     couldn’t afford the kind of place they needed, Leidolf didn’t have the funds, and
     it was not something Nokolai could help with. So they’d be signing a mortgage. One
     whopping big mortgage, even with Rule making a whopping big down payment. Land did
     not come cheap.
    Tonight, though—tonight was for Rule. Rule and Nokolai.
    Lupi made a big deal about New Year’s Eve. At least Nokolai did. Christmas they considered
     more of a private time, one you spent with family or friends, but New Year’sEve was for clan. They had a big bonfire, lots of food, dancing, and music, and everyone
     came who could. You were supposed to bring something to toss on the bonfire, something
     that stood for whatever you wanted to let go of along with the old year. People starting
     adding their whatevers around eleven so everyone would have a chance to finish before
     midnight, when the Rhej would ring a big old cowbell to let everyone know.
    This was Cynna’s first time to have that duty. She was kind of nervous about it.
    Some of the letting-go objects were funny, like Hostess cupcakes Emma tossed on the
     fire with a shout of “Junk food!” Some were a mystery to everyone else, like the small
     rubber ball José contributed. Several lupi gave him a hard time for stinking up the
     place—rubber smells awful when it burns—but he just smiled. A lot of people simply
     brought a piece of paper with something written on it.
    That’s what Rule did. Lily didn’t know what he’d written on it, but he’d nodded as
     it turned black and burned.
    Lily brought a stone from her necklace—the one that was supposed to keep ghosts away.
     It wouldn’t burn, but it was the idea that counted, she figured. She knew what she
     was letting go of as she chunked it on the flames. If she’d had to put a word to it,
     she would have said, “judgment,” but it was both more and less than that.
    Drummond hadn’t come back.
    When Lily was nine years old, a monster had stolen her and her friend. He’d raped
     and killed Sarah. Lily was alive because of a cop who got there in time. Since she
     was nine years old, she’d known two things: there were monsters who looked like people.
     And one day she would become a cop and protect the real people from the monsters.
     By the time she joined the force, she’d understood that the monsters were real people,
     too—twisted and warped and bad, but people. But her goal hadn’t changed.
    When Lily was eight years old, she’d wanted the monster who killed Sarah dead. She’d
     wanted to be the one who killed him. That was one of the few things she’d been ableto say about what happened to her, and it had alarmed her mother. The therapist